State House Anti-Corruption Unit Arrests Prominent City Lawyer Balondemu For Allegedly Scamming Korean Investor

According to sources, Balondemu who also doubles as the Kampala Land Board chairman was arrested on Wednesday following allegations that he had defrauded Hyun UK Kim, a Korean investor, a whooping $600,000 (Shs2.2 billion). Further sources confirmed that the lawyer has been detained at Special Investigations Division (SID) Kireka, awaiting to be arraigned at KCCA court this morning.

“Yes, we have already transferred him from Kireka SID to KCCA court and is entering court in the next few minutes,” Bunya Emmanuel a State House anti corruption staff told our reporter via phone call a while ago.

Balondemu has been the chairman of Kampala Land Board since 2020, following his appointment by the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago but his appointment attracted opposition from some whistleblowers who accused him of involvement in several fraud cases.

At the time, Balondemu had been among the city lawyers investigated by Kibuli CID department for working with gold dealers  to scam foreign investors of billions of money through fake gold deals.

His arrest comes days after Police, together with SHACU arrested and arraigned two suspects; James Mugisha Jeff and Maviri Godfrey before the KCCA Chief Magistrates Court for involvement in defrauding the Korean investor.

The accused were charged with obtaining money by false pretence and conspiracy to commit a felony, and were remanded until October 25, 2023.

It is alleged that between August and November 2021, Kim was defrauded over US$300,000 (Shs1.1 billion) in a 53kg gold scam in Kampala.

The investor was introduced to the deal by Mugisha James Jeff who knew the alleged gold seller who was still at large at the time of arrest. It is said that during all interactions, Maviri was always in the company of the gold ‘seller’.